{"title":"Padgett Powell","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"interrogative-mood-book-padgett-powell-9781846683664","title":"The Interrogative Mood","description":"'If Duchamp or maybe Magritte wrote a novel (and maybe they did. Did they?) it might look something like this remarkable little book of Padgett Powell's: immensely readable, ingenious, witty, and ultimately important-feeling in a way you can't quite describe but don't need to' Richard Ford  Through a seemingly random but infinitely artful series of questions this small masterpiece mysteriously, elusively, hilariously, compellingly lights up life.   Are your emotions pure? Are your nerves adjustable? How do you stand in relation to the potato? Should it still be Constantinople? Does a nameless horse make you more nervous or less nervous than a named horse? In your view, do children smell good? ... Does your doorbell ever ring? Is there sand in your craw? Could Mendeleyev place you correctly in a square on a chart of periodic identities, or would you resonate all over the board? How many push-ups can you do?","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49524531888401,"sku":"GOR002187533","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49539585736977,"sku":"GOR012249783","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50391957700881,"sku":"CIN1846683661G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50401756938513,"sku":"CIN1846683661A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51436781404433,"sku":"GOR002710064","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52499042238737,"sku":"GOR004214873","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1846683661.jpg?v=1750833912"},{"product_id":"you-i-book-padgett-powell-9781846688171","title":"You \u0026 I","description":"'When asked for a list of the best young American writers, I invariably put Padgett Powell at the top' Saul Bellow  This book is a conversation, apparently on a porch, between two men who may be difficult to grasp. They move together in aimless convenient debate, coming to conclusions that don't conclude but to positions that may not be finally so aimless. They disagree to agree. They are smart, not smart; fools, not fools.   Poignant, hilarious, opaque, diamond-clear, this strange little gem is sure to delight the thousands of devotees found by Powell's The Interrogative Mood.  'When we first came across Padgett Powell's remarkable writing it blew our minds completely' Dazed \u0026amp; Confused","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49529796559121,"sku":"GOR005276336","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50953886662929,"sku":"GOR011779912","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1846688175.jpg?v=1751249562"},{"product_id":"interrogative-mood-book-padgett-powell-9781846683671","title":"The Interrogative Mood","description":"'If Duchamp or maybe Magritte wrote a novel it might look something like this remarkable little book of Padgett Powell's: immensely readable, ingenious, witty, and ultimately important-feeling in a way you can't quite describe but don't need to' Richard Ford  Are your emotions pure? Are your nerves adjustable? How do you stand in relation to the potato? Should it still be Constantinople? Does a nameless horse make you more nervous or less nervous than a named horse? In your view, do children smell good? ... Does your doorbell ever ring? Is there sand in your craw?  Is it a novel? Whatever it is, The Interrogative Mood is stubbornly memorable. Through a seemingly random but infinitely artful series of questions this small masterpiece mysteriously, elusively, hilariously, compellingly lights up life.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49543330955537,"sku":"GOR003874566","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52989989093649,"sku":"GOR003938142","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/184668367X.jpg?v=1772274744"},{"product_id":"you-i-book-padgett-powell-9781846688164","title":"You \u0026 I","description":"Described as 'Waiting for Godot on acid', this radiant and enigmatic novel will take you on a journey into the subconscious. Confounding, experimental fiction for everyone who loved The Interrogative Mood.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49605164925201,"sku":"GOR003392422","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49662677811473,"sku":"GOR004748874","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1846688167.jpg?v=1751441868"},{"product_id":"you-me-book-padgett-powell-9780062126139","title":"You \u0026 Me","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe cult hit The Interrogative Mood--a Best Book of the Year selection by Amazon.com, \u003cem\u003eGQ, The Believer, Time OutNew York, \u003c\/em\u003e and elsewhere--reminded readers that Padgett Powell is one of the enduring stars of American fiction, an electric novelist with a pitch-perfect ear for the way Americans talk and the strange things we say and believe. Now he returns with a hilarious Southern send-up of Samuel Beckett's classic\u0026gt;\u003cem\u003eWaiting for Godot, \u003c\/em\u003e and we enter the world of the sublime and trivial as only Powell can envision it. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwo loquacious men sit talking on a porch. Funny and profound, daft and cogent, they argue about love and sex, how best to live and die, the merits of Miles Davis and Cadillacs and Hollywood starlets of yore, underused clichü¾Ž–”¼s, false truisms, and the meaning of nihilism. Together, they shoot the shit--and then they go on shooting it long after it's dead.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRibald and roaring, \u003cem\u003eYou \u0026amp; Me\u003c\/em\u003e is an exuberant and very funny novel from a master of American fiction at the top of his game.\u003c\/p\u003e--Shelf Awareness","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49640447410449,"sku":"GOR009568013","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50343276871953,"sku":"CIN006212613XA","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51423426216209,"sku":"CIN006212613XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53156562272529,"sku":"CIN006212613XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/006212613X.jpg?v=1751388009"},{"product_id":"interrogative-mood-book-padgett-powell-9780061859434","title":"The Interrogative Mood","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"If Duchamp or maybe Magritte wrote a novel (and maybe they did. Did they?) it might look something like this remarkable little book of Padgett Powell's.\"\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e--Richard Ford\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e The Interrogative Mood is a wildly inventive, jazzy meditation on life and language by the novelist that Ian Frazier hails as \"one of the best writers in America, and one of the funniest, too.\" A novel composed entirely of questions, it is perhaps the most audacious literary high-wire act since Nicholson Baker's The Mezzanine or David Foster Wallace's stories; a playful and profound book that, as Jonathan Safran Foer says, \"will sear the unlucky volumes shelved on either side of it. How it doesn't, itself, combust in flames is a mystery to me.\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49644204359953,"sku":"GOR013616758","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":49980685418769,"sku":"CIN0061859435A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50161996169489,"sku":"GOR011424117","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50300492906769,"sku":"CIN0061859435VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50627430121745,"sku":"CIN0061859435G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":50998961406225,"sku":"NIN9780061859434","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52733674979601,"sku":"GOR014604562","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52865517715729,"sku":"GOR011608629","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0061859435.jpg?v=1750972476"},{"product_id":"interrogative-mood-book-padgett-powell-9780061859410","title":"The Interrogative Mood","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"\u003e\"If Duchamp or maybe Magritte wrote a novel (and maybe they did. Did they?) it might look something like this remarkable little book of Padgett Powell's.\"\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"\u003e--Richard Ford\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e The Interrogative Mood is a\u003cspan style=\"COLOR: black\"\u003ewildly inventive, jazzy meditation on life and language by the novelist that Ian Frazier hails as \"one of the best writers inAmerica, and one of the funniest, too.\" A novel composed entirely of questions, it is perhaps the most audacious literary high-wire act since Nicholson Baker's The Mezzanine or David Foster Wallace's stories; a playful and profound book that, as\u003c\/span\u003e Jonathan Safran Foer \u003cspan style=\"COLOR: black\"\u003esays, \"\u003c\/span\u003ewill sear the unlucky volumes shelved on either side of it. How it doesn't, itself, combust in flames is a mystery to me.\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49699240313105,"sku":"CIN0061859419G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50707194413329,"sku":"GOR002258354","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51422750376209,"sku":"CIN0061859419VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53585191764241,"sku":"GOR014971367","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0061859419.jpg?v=1750737123"},{"product_id":"edisto-book-padgett-powell-9781846688126","title":"Edisto","description":"Simons Everson Manigault ('You say it \"Simmons\". I'm a rare one-m Simons') lives with his mother, an eccentric professor known as the Duchess, on an isolated strip of South Carolina coast. Convinced that her son can be a writer of genius, the Duchess has immersed Simons in the literary classics since birth and has given him free rein to gather materials in such spots as the Baby Grand, a local black nightclub.\n\nAlthough possessed of a vocabulary and sophistication beyond his years, Simons feels the normal adolescent bewilderment about the behaviour of his parents. His conventional father, the Progenitor, has recently left the family in a dispute over Simons' upbringing and has moved to nearby Hilton Head, where he would like to see his son raised in the orthodox surroundings of condominiums, country clubs and private schools. So the Duchess brings in Taurus, an enigmatic father-surrogate who tutors the boy in the art of watching the world without presumption.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49861529043217,"sku":"GOR006147495","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1846688124.jpg?v=1750964001"},{"product_id":"woman-named-drown-book-padgett-powell-9780805007503","title":"A Woman Named Drown","description":"\u003cb\u003eHailed by \u003ci\u003eTime \u003c\/i\u003eas an extravagantly comic novel, \u003ci\u003eA Woman Named Drown\u003c\/i\u003e is a wild and strange journey through America's South that follows a young PhD dropout who falls in with an amateur actress-cum-pool shark\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn the brink of earning his doctorate in chemistry, the unnamed narrator decides to chuck it all away in favor of real life. So begins an odd pilgrimage through the American South. In Tennessee, our hero is bewitched by an older, gin-swilling, pool-playing sometimes-actress who claims to have recently starred in a theatrical production about a woman named Drown. He moves in with her and just as quickly begins encountering her strange compatriots. Before he knows it, they're heading farther south together--to Florida--where the data that the dropout scientist is collecting from life's laboratory is about to get quite contradictory.\u003cbr\u003eRichly influenced by offbeat literary giant Donald Barthelme, Padgett Powell's \u003ci\u003eA Woman Named Drown \u003c\/i\u003eoffers readers a smorgasbord of literary strangeness--a surreal series of adventures in which nothing much--and yet everything--happens at once.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":49910043312401,"sku":"CIN0805007504A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0805007504.jpg?v=1750979939"},{"product_id":"edisto-revisited-book-padgett-powell-9780805042375","title":"Edisto Revisited","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49934762443025,"sku":"CIN0805042377G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50655454658833,"sku":"CIN0805042377VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0805042377.jpg?v=1751201344"},{"product_id":"indigo-book-padgett-powell-9781646220052","title":"Indigo","description":"Three friends in search of a place to belong find that home is truly where the heart is in this new tale of enchantment from best-selling master storyteller Alice Hoffman.\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e13 year-old Martha Glimmer is convinced this is the worst time of her life. Her mother died, she grew 7 inches, and she has to put up with a woman who plys Martha's lonely father with food and opinions about how 13 year-old girls should behave. Martha longs to leave Oak Grove and travel. Martha's best friend Trevor and his brother Eli also want to leave Oak Grove. Nicknamed Trout and Eel because of the thin webbing between their fingers and toes, they long to see the ocean. Together, Martha, Trout, and Eel are going to find the true meaning of home -- in very unexpected places.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49940964933905,"sku":"CIN1646220056G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50532515119377,"sku":"GOR013988212","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52819133202705,"sku":"CIN1646220056VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1646220056.jpg?v=1750831650"},{"product_id":"edisto-book-padgett-powell-9780030031847","title":"Edisto","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePadgett Powell's National Book Award-nominated first novel (1984) about coming of age on Edisto, an undeveloped strip of coast between Savannah and Charleston, is a startling book, full of new sights, sounds, and ways of feeling. . . .The book is subtle, daring, and brilliant (Donald Barthelme).\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Padgett Powell's first novel (1984) is about coming of age on Edisto, an undeveloped strip of coast between Savannah and Charleston, a named but never discovered place in the South. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Simons Manigault (You say it 'Simmons.' I'm a rare one-\u003ci\u003em\u003c\/i\u003e Simons) lives with his mother, an eccentric professor known locally as the Duchess, who is convinced her twelve-year-old son can become a writer of genius. She has immersed Simons in the literary classics since birth and has given him free rein to gather material in such spots as a nightclub called Marvin's R.O. Sweet Shop and Baby Grand. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e At the center of Simons's life on Edisto is an enigmatic character who tutors the boy in the art of watching the world without presumption. Taurus, as he is dubbed by Simons, acts as a father surrogate as well, taking his precocious young charge in stride. He leads him to, among other discoveries, his first prizefight, date, and hangover. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The way Simons sees the world will change radically when he leaves his ad-lib life among the denizens of Edisto for the private schools and tennis tournaments of Hilton Head, South Carolina--the territory of his father, The Progenitor. Using the combination of a child's run-on phrasing and the vigorous prose and deft comic touches of a writer who is sure of every step, Padgett Powell established himself as a vivid new American writer.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49981293789457,"sku":"CIN0030031842G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0030031842.jpg?v=1751257329"},{"product_id":"you-me-book-padgett-powell-9780062126146","title":"You \u0026 Me","description":"\u003cp\u003ePadgett Powell, author of the acclaimed The Interrogative Mood and \"one of the few truly important American writers of our time\" (Sam Lipsyte), returns with a hilarious Southern send-up of Samuel Beckett's classic Waiting for Godot.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eTruly a master of envelope-pushing, post-postmodern American fiction, in a class with Nicholas Baker and Lydia Davis, Powell brilliantly blends the sublime, the trivial, and the oddball in You \u0026amp; Me, as two loquacious gents on a porch discuss all manner of subjects, from the mundane to the spiritual to the downright ridiculous.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAt once outrageously funny and profound, You \u0026amp; Me is yet another brilliant, boundary-bursting masterwork, proving once again that, \"there are few writers who understand both the beauty and the absurdity of language as well as Padgett Powell\" (Kevin Wilson, author of The Family Fang) and that, \"Padgett Powell is one of the best writers in America, and one of the funniest, too\" (Ian Frazier).\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eYou \u0026amp; Me: A Novel won the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50034067439889,"sku":"CIN0062126148G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":50998997877009,"sku":"NIN9780062126146","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51334907199761,"sku":"CIN0062126148VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0062126148.jpg?v=1750939058"},{"product_id":"edisto-book-padgett-powell-9780805013702","title":"Edisto","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePadgett Powell's National Book Award-nominated first novel (1984) about coming of age on Edisto, an undeveloped strip of coast between Savannah and Charleston, is a startling book, full of new sights, sounds, and ways of feeling. . . .The book is subtle, daring, and brilliant (Donald Barthelme).\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Padgett Powell's first novel (1984) is about coming of age on Edisto, an undeveloped strip of coast between Savannah and Charleston, a named but never discovered place in the South. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Simons Manigault (You say it 'Simmons.' I'm a rare one-\u003ci\u003em\u003c\/i\u003e Simons) lives with his mother, an eccentric professor known locally as the Duchess, who is convinced her twelve-year-old son can become a writer of genius. She has immersed Simons in the literary classics since birth and has given him free rein to gather material in such spots as a nightclub called Marvin's R.O. Sweet Shop and Baby Grand. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e At the center of Simons's life on Edisto is an enigmatic character who tutors the boy in the art of watching the world without presumption. Taurus, as he is dubbed by Simons, acts as a father surrogate as well, taking his precocious young charge in stride. He leads him to, among other discoveries, his first prizefight, date, and hangover. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The way Simons sees the world will change radically when he leaves his ad-lib life among the denizens of Edisto for the private schools and tennis tournaments of Hilton Head, South Carolina--the territory of his father, The Progenitor. Using the combination of a child's run-on phrasing and the vigorous prose and deft comic touches of a writer who is sure of every step, Padgett Powell established himself as a vivid new American writer.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50095299789073,"sku":"CIN0805013709G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50124587106577,"sku":"CIN0805013709A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50655454789905,"sku":"CIN0805013709VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0805013709.jpg?v=1751362729"},{"product_id":"cries-for-help-various-book-padgett-powell-9781936787319","title":"Cries for Help, Various","description":"\u003cb\u003eNamed a Best Book of 2015 by NPR and \u003ci\u003eVanity Fair\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"Rifles through fear, identity, meaning, and cultural memory in forty-four short, surreal stories.\" --\u003ci\u003eVanity Fair\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"By turns moving, funny, and maddening.... very much in the key of Donald Barthelme.\" \u003ci\u003e--The New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"Somehow both grounded and absurd, each one of the stories trying get at that heart of the confusion and sadness at the core of contemporary life.\" --\u003ci\u003eVICE\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e From the highly acclaimed author of \u003ci\u003eEdisto\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Interrogative Mood\u003c\/i\u003e, Padgett Powell's new collection of stories, \u003ci\u003eCries for Help, Various,\u003c\/i\u003e follows his mentor Donald Barthelme's advice that \"wacky mode\" must \"break their hearts.\" The surrealistic and comical terrain of most of the forty-four stories here is grounded by a real preoccupation with longing, fear, work, loneliness, and cultural nostalgia. These universal concerns are given exhilarating life by way of Powell's \"wit, his . . . dazzling turns of phrase\" (Scott Spencer).\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Padgett Powell's language is both lofty and low-down, his tone cranky and heartfelt, exuberant and inconsolable. His characters rebel against convention and ambition, hoping to maintain their very sanity by doing so. Even the most hilarious or fantastical stories in \u003ci\u003eCries for Help, Various\u003c\/i\u003e ring gloriously, poignantly, true.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50307110338833,"sku":"CIN1936787318VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50437441650961,"sku":"GOR010660504","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51418014646545,"sku":"CIN1936787318G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1936787318.jpg?v=1751429256"},{"product_id":"mrs-hollingsworth-s-men-book-padgett-powell-9780618071685","title":"Mrs. Hollingsworth's Men","description":"\u003cb\u003eA housewife revels in the secret world of her mind filled with historical characters and twisted love stories in this inventive sendup of Southern fiction.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Mrs. Hollingsworth sits at her kitchen table, compiling her grocery list. The subject of the list is not foodstuffs, but memories that never happened, inventions of loves, and strange conspiracies peopled by men who appear in the lonely housewife's head--men infinitely more real to her than her own husband.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest gallops into her story, courtesy of media giant Ted Turner and two shady criminal types named Bundy and Oswald who are engaged in a secret experiment to create the New Southerner.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Her prying daughters believe Mrs. Hollingsworth is losing her mind. But in truth, their mother is simply looking for love via hand-to-hand combat on the surreal battlefield inside her head.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Originally published as \u003ci\u003eMrs. Hollingsworth's Men\u003c\/i\u003e, Padgett Powell's \u003ci\u003eHologram \u003c\/i\u003eis a stunning literary achievement. Strikingly unique, it is a poignant, funny, and unconventional fever dream brought to lyrical life.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50359161127185,"sku":"CIN0618071687A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50359165550865,"sku":"CIN0618071687G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51323420573969,"sku":"CIN0618071687VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0618071687.jpg?v=1751008620"},{"product_id":"aliens-of-affection-book-padgett-powell-9780805060003","title":"Aliens of Affection","description":"\u003cb\u003eA New York Times Notable Book: The idiosyncratic genius of Padgett Powell shines through in nine stories that bend the conventions of short fiction.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Padgett Powell's literary stage is a blurred vision of the American South. His characters are bored, sad, assured, confused, deluded, and often just one step away from madness. The stories they populate are madder still, delivered by a voice enthralling and distinctive.\u003cbr\u003e Whether he's chronicling a housewife's encouragement of adolescent lust, following two good ol' boys on their search for a Chinese healer, or delving into the mind of an unstable moped accident survivor as he awaits a hefty settlement check, Powell revels in the irregularities of the mundane. His people occupy bar stools and strip clubs, pickup truck cabs and mental health clinics, looking for love, drugs, answers. According to the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e, Mr. Powell is like a fabulous guest at a dinner party, the guy who gets people drinking far too much and licking their dessert plates and laughing at jokes--for which not a few of them will hate themselves in the morning.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50363635597585,"sku":"CIN0805060006G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50588133523729,"sku":"CIN0805060006VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0805060006.jpg?v=1751011719"},{"product_id":"aliens-of-affection-book-padgett-powell-9780805052138","title":"Aliens of Affection","description":"\u003cb\u003eA New York Times Notable Book: The idiosyncratic genius of Padgett Powell shines through in nine stories that bend the conventions of short fiction.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Padgett Powell's literary stage is a blurred vision of the American South. His characters are bored, sad, assured, confused, deluded, and often just one step away from madness. The stories they populate are madder still, delivered by a voice enthralling and distinctive.\u003cbr\u003e Whether he's chronicling a housewife's encouragement of adolescent lust, following two good ol' boys on their search for a Chinese healer, or delving into the mind of an unstable moped accident survivor as he awaits a hefty settlement check, Powell revels in the irregularities of the mundane. His people occupy bar stools and strip clubs, pickup truck cabs and mental health clinics, looking for love, drugs, answers. According to the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e, Mr. Powell is like a fabulous guest at a dinner party, the guy who gets people drinking far too much and licking their dessert plates and laughing at jokes--for which not a few of them will hate themselves in the morning.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50366227611921,"sku":"CIN0805052135G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51838614077713,"sku":"CIN0805052135VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0805052135.jpg?v=1750883229"},{"product_id":"edisto-revisited-book-padgett-powell-9781480464155","title":"Edisto Revisited","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cb\u003eIn the sequel to Powell's acclaimed debut, \u003ci\u003eEdisto\u003c\/i\u003e, Simons Manigault is older--if not particularly wiser--and searching for the cure to his restlessness in memory, travel, and forbidden love\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e Fourteen years after we first met Simons Manigault, our protagonist is newly graduated from Clemson University, bored, unfocused, and idling his summer away at his mother's home in Edisto, South Carolina. Not yet ready to fully embrace adulthood, Simons finds himself surrendering to cynicism, as well as to the temptations of his \"turned-out-well\" first cousin, Patricia.\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e To avoid sinking further into his rut, Simons embarks on a road trip through the South. After a disastrous stint as a Corpus Christi fisherman, he exits the Lone Star State, doubling back to the Louisiana bayou to spend some quality time with his former friend and mentor--and his mother's ex-lover--Taurus. But as even Taurus's once sought-after wisdom wears thin, Simons begins to suspect that the grass is not greener on the other side--it may be burnt, brown, and dead wherever he goes.\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Padgett Powell's literary return to Edisto is as outrageous, witty, and bitingly sharp as its predecessor. Readers who adored their first meeting with Simons Manigault will relish a second helping of his ennui and bad behavior. Newcomers will likewise be heartily glad they made the trip. ","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50386014732561,"sku":"CIN1480464155G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51029021425937,"sku":"NIN9781480464155","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52687085404433,"sku":"NLS9781480464155","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1480464155.jpg?v=1750956512"},{"product_id":"typical-book-padgett-powell-9780374280222","title":"Typical","description":"\u003cb\u003eTwenty-three surreal fictions--stories, character assassinations, and mini-travelogues--from one of the most heralded writers of the American South\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere are many things that repulse Dr. Ordinary. Kansas is notable for its distinct lack of farmland. Wayne's Fate is most unfortunate, not merely for Wayne but for the roofer pal who stands by watching his good buddy lose his head. Miss Resignation simply cannot win at Bingo. And there is nothing Typical about the unemployed steelworker and self-described piece of crud who strides through this collection's title story.\u003cbr\u003eWelcome to the world of Padgett Powell, one of the most original American literary voices in recent memory. \u003ci\u003eTypical \u003c\/i\u003eis both a bravura demonstration of Powell's passion for words, and an offbeat, perceptive view of contemporary life--an enthralling work by a one-of-a-kind wordsmith, and a redefinition of what short fiction can be.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50500841767185,"sku":"CIN0374280223VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50589195665681,"sku":"CIN0374280223G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50953790259473,"sku":"CIN0374280223A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0374280223.jpg?v=1751292175"},{"product_id":"edisto-book-padgett-powell-9781936787722","title":"Edisto","description":"\u003cb\u003ePadgett Powell's National Book Award-nominated first novel (1984) about coming of age on Edisto, an undeveloped strip of coast between Savannah and Charleston, is \"a startling book, full of new sights, sounds, and ways of feeling. . . . The book is subtle, daring, and brilliant\" (Donald Barthelme).\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003ePadgett Powell's first novel (1984) is about coming of age on Edisto, an undeveloped strip of coast between Savannah and Charleston, a \"named but never discovered place in the South.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Simons Manigault (\"You say it 'Simmons.' I'm a rare one-\u003ci\u003em\u003c\/i\u003e Simons\") lives with his mother, an eccentric professor known locally as the Duchess, who is convinced her twelve-year-old son can become a writer of genius. She has immersed Simons in the literary classics since birth and has given him free rein to gather material in such spots as a nightclub called Marvin's R.O. Sweet Shop and Baby Grand.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e At the center of Simons's life on Edisto is an enigmatic character who tutors the boy in the art of watching the world without presumption. \"Taurus,\" as he is dubbed by Simons, acts as a father surrogate as well, taking his precocious young charge in stride. He leads him to, among other discoveries, his first prizefight, date, and hangover.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e The way Simons sees the world will change radically when he leaves his ad-lib life among the denizens of Edisto for the private schools and tennis tournaments of Hilton Head, South Carolina--the territory of his father, \"The Progenitor.\" Using the combination of a child's run-on phrasing and the vigorous prose and deft comic touches of a writer who is sure of every step, Padgett Powell established himself as a vivid new American writer.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":50765201867025,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50765203308817,"sku":"CIN1936787725VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52981641183505,"sku":"NIN9781936787722","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1936787725.jpg?v=1751250739"},{"product_id":"woman-named-drown-book-padgett-powell-9781480464216","title":"A Woman Named Drown","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cb\u003eHailed by \u003ci\u003eTime\u003c\/i\u003e as an \"extravagantly comic\" novel, \u003ci\u003eA Woman Named Drown\u003c\/i\u003e is a wild and strange journey through America's South that follows a young PhD dropout who falls in with an amateur actress-cum-pool shark\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e On the brink of earning his doctorate in chemistry, the unnamed narrator decides to chuck it all away in favor of real life. So begins an odd pilgrimage through the American South. In Tennessee, our hero is bewitched by an older, gin-swilling, pool-playing sometimes-actress who claims to have recently starred in a theatrical production about a \"woman named Drown.\" He moves in with her and just as quickly begins encountering her strange compatriots. Before he knows it, they're heading farther south together--to Florida--where the data that the dropout scientist is collecting from life's laboratory is about to get quite contradictory.\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Richly influenced by offbeat literary giant Donald Barthelme, Padgett Powell's \u003ci\u003eA Woman Named Drown\u003c\/i\u003e offers readers a smorgasbord of literary strangeness--a surreal series of adventures in which nothing much--and yet everything--happens at once.  ","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51029192311057,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51029195161873,"sku":"NIN9781480464216","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51922158977297,"sku":"GOR013379061","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52687192752401,"sku":"NLS9781480464216","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/148046421X.jpg?v=1750716475"},{"product_id":"woman-named-drown-rare-book-padgett-powell-1747047896bwf","title":"Woman Named Drown","description":"1987. First Edition. 179 pages. Black pictorial dust jacket over pink boards with a black cloth spine. Book is in better condition than most examples of this age. Neat, clean, well bound pages with ve","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51545171624209,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51545171656977,"sku":"1747047896BWF","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1747047896BWF_1.jpg?v=1747412338"},{"product_id":"hologram-book-padgett-powell-9781480464179","title":"Hologram","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eA housewife revels in the secret world of her mind filled with historical characters and twisted love stories in this inventive sendup of Southern fiction.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Mrs. Hollingsworth sits at her kitchen table, compiling her grocery list. The subject of the list is not foodstuffs, but memories that never happened, inventions of loves, and strange conspiracies peopled by men who appear in the lonely housewife's head--men infinitely more real to her than her own husband.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest gallops into her story, courtesy of media giant Ted Turner and two shady criminal types named Bundy and Oswald who are engaged in a secret experiment to create \"the New Southerner.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Her prying daughters believe Mrs. Hollingsworth is losing her mind. But in truth, their mother is simply looking for love via hand-to-hand combat on the surreal battlefield inside her head.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Originally published as \u003ci\u003eMrs. Hollingsworth's Men\u003c\/i\u003e, Padgett Powell's \u003ci\u003eHologram\u003c\/i\u003e is a stunning literary achievement. Strikingly unique, it is a poignant, funny, and unconventional fever dream brought to lyrical life.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  \u003c\/div\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52664071946513,"sku":"NLS9781480464179","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52953482166545,"sku":"NIN9781480464179","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781480464179.jpg?v=1762273660"},{"product_id":"aliens-of-affection-book-padgett-powell-9781480464117","title":"Aliens of Affection","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cb\u003eA New York Times Notable Book: The idiosyncratic genius of Padgett Powell shines through in nine stories that bend the conventions of short fiction.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Padgett Powell's literary stage is a blurred vision of the American South. His characters are bored, sad, assured, confused, deluded, and often just one step away from madness. The stories they populate are madder still, delivered by a voice enthralling and distinctive.\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Whether he's chronicling a housewife's encouragement of adolescent lust, following two good ol' boys on their search for a Chinese healer, or delving into the mind of an unstable moped accident survivor as he awaits a hefty settlement check, Powell revels in the irregularities of the mundane. His people occupy bar stools and strip clubs, pickup truck cabs and mental health clinics, looking for love, drugs, answers. According to the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \"Mr. Powell is like a fabulous guest at a dinner party, the guy who gets people drinking far too much and licking their dessert plates and laughing at jokes--for which not a few of them will hate themselves in the morning.\" ","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52669804314897,"sku":"NLS9781480464117","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52750550139153,"sku":"NIN9781480464117","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781480464117.jpg?v=1762288269"},{"product_id":"typical-book-padgett-powell-9781480464193","title":"Typical","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cb\u003eTwenty-three surreal fictions--stories, character assassinations, and mini-travelogues--from one of the most heralded writers of the American South\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e There are many things that repulse \"Dr. Ordinary.\" \"Kansas\" is notable for its distinct lack of farmland. \"Wayne's Fate\" is most unfortunate, not merely for Wayne but for the roofer pal who stands by watching his good buddy lose his head. \"Miss Resignation\" simply cannot win at Bingo. And there is nothing \"Typical\" about the unemployed steelworker and self-described \"piece of crud\" who strides through this collection's title story.\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Welcome to the world of Padgett Powell, one of the most original American literary voices in recent memory. \u003ci\u003eTypical\u003c\/i\u003e is both a bravura demonstration of Powell's passion for words, and an offbeat, perceptive view of contemporary life--an enthralling work by a one-of-a-kind wordsmith, and a redefinition of what short fiction can be. ","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52686773551377,"sku":"NLS9781480464193","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52750552170769,"sku":"NIN9781480464193","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781480464193.jpg?v=1775728809"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/author-books-by-padgett-powell.oembed?page=2","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}